9 referred to misdemeanor court over violating protest law

CAIRO: The Qasr al-Nil prosecution referred nine people to misdemeanor court on charges of violating the 2013 protest law and protesting to mark anniversary of deadly clashes occurred in Cairo in 2011, Youm7 reported Tuesday.

On Nov., 22, the nine defendants were arrested while commemorating the 4th anniversary of deadly clashes between protesters and security forces that broke out at downtown Cairo’s Mohamed Mahmoud Street on Nov. 19, 2011 following the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak

Ahmed Hefny, the prosecutor at Cairo’s Qasr al-Nil neighborhood said that the detainees are accused of “disrupting traffic, illegal assembly, disseminating leaflets and protesting without a permit,” according to Reuters.

The protest law, which entered into force in November 2013, criminalizes any demonstrations that take place without approval from security forces; a number of students have been imprisoned under the law.